


Charbones

by FailedBroadcast



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Asriel, Adult Frisk, Adult Gaster, Adult Sans, Alternate Timeline, Alternate Universe, Angst, BUTt do expect very cute fluff, Chara is Female, Frisk is Nonbinary, Gaster Uses ASL, Gaster is Brothers with Sans and Papyrus, Gen, How To Tag: 101, Tags May Change, Teenager Chara, Void Monsters, Void stuff, adult papyrus, also SO MANY PUNS, and i plan to have some grillby-gaster ships ahead, because ive never writeen it and not very comfy with it, dont expect lemon or slash, dont! :D, everyone is angsty, its almost a tearable punishment, nobody is happy all at once, probably some human and monster OCS too but lets not get ahead of ourselves, thats basically the reason im writitng this LOLOL, there is NO romantic relationship between gaster and chara you pervs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23351800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FailedBroadcast/pseuds/FailedBroadcast
Summary: Gaster struggles to adjust to a new life on the surface. More inside!
Relationships: Sans & Toriel (Undertale)
Kudos: 4





	1. All night Long

The drive to his new home was strangely long.

Light poles crawled by at a steady 27 miles per hour. It was dark now, the twilit sky finally settling to a dark indigo. He admired it through the sunroof of the small, dark Trooper as tiny stars peeked through the tinted glass. His hands were neatly clasped in his lap, a thin, bony thumb gently scraping against a forefinger. 

It was hard for him to imagine that just barely a day ago, he had been stagnating in the ever-hungry Void, waiting to be forgotten again in the tides of eternity. The all-encompassing Nothing, that somehow had the ability to fill up the emptiness that all the matter in the universe couldn’t dream of taking up.

He could barely remember at all of what happened... The moment he was pulled through, everything had switched on, all at once. The harsh, prickling smell of ozone. The wavering lights of the whirring fluorescents against the cold, hard linoleum, backdropped against smooth blue, crackly wallpaper. Something was holding him up, a steady, warm foundation, all too unfamiliar as noises mumbled around him. The colors of green, and blue, and pink, and red, and yellow. He couldn’t begin to make out where he was as he stared blankly into the linoleum, struggling to breathe in the freshest oxygen he had encountered in ... how long was it? Time. He struggled to grasp many things in the Void, and the concept of time had slipped from him all too quickly.

“You alright?”

A voice beckoned. He turned to it, and there she sat, just as nervous as he was in the fabric seats of the car. The subtle bumps in the road caused her auburn hair to shift, and she ran a hand through it to get it out of her piercing, crimson eyes.

Chara.

This child, this - would it even begin to describe his feelings? - blessing, this wonderful piece of light that had illuminated the darkest corners of the void, that bathed him in a pool of red everytime they would meet eyes. She was the thing that had brought him back from complete corruption of his former prison. He smiled softly, “Better than I have been,” he reassured gently through sign, his phalanges clicking together.

Chara couldn’t even fake a smile if she wanted to. He stared at her, willing a confession. “I almost waited too long to get you. I... damn, I could have forgotten you. I could have _lost_ you. And I almost died trying to save you, but god _damn it_ -”

A disapproving _ahem_ interrupted from the driver seat. “My child, I won’t sit idly by allowing you to use such foul language in my presence. Please mind yourself.”

Chara had half a mind to look guilty, considering her... mother could see her through the rearview mirror. The caprimonere had her eyes locked on the road but she might as well have had another pair riveted on Chara through the mirror. “I am sorry, Toriel.”

Her features instantly softened. He watched on with mild interest as the queen regarded her child. “It is alright, dear Chara, I understand it has been a terrifically stressful day for you. For all of us.” He felt the last part directed to him, and he also had the mind to be meek. “I am no saint when it comes to venting out my frustrations in a less than dignified manner, but we must remind ourselves that despite everything, it all turned out alright.” He could hear the smile in her voice return. 

It had been so long since he had heard that cantor. There were many tears that were exchanged between him and his... well, as close as parents ever could be for him. Not only was she, and the king, reunited with their adopted child, Chara with the help of Frisk; they had also reclaimed long forgotten memories of a prior happiness. Long before either Chara and Asriel, before the declaration of war against humanity and their coveted souls to escape their hellish prison. 

It was him.

“Gaster?”

The former scientist looked up.

“I’m glad you are home.”

He smiled again, barely able to contain the well of tears he had thought had long dried since this morning. He nodded, taking an end of his new, fresh sweater and quickly wiping at his sockets. He was glad for this moment that he didn’t have glasses to take off so he could be more subtle about his emotions. Chara noticed, though, and slumped her head against his bony shoulder, sighing deeply and looking out the window. She took his hand and stroked it, not unlike how a tired mother runs a finger against the bridge of the nose of her restless infant.

“Me too,” he thinks to himself, unable to sign, and Chara affirms it with a mumble. Another body makes a noncommittal grunt in the passenger seat. Gaster’s cheer ebbs, being condemned into silence from his own guilt. He reaches out to the person there, but they quickly bite a command.

“don’t.”

Gaster felt Chara bristle but he shook his head, giving her hand a small squeeze. That relationship was his to mend alone. She gave a final glare at the passenger with malice. The car ride was silent from then on.

The inertia of the vehicle shifted as Toriel braked to make a turn. By this point the ride had lasted almost 30 minutes, the neighborhood she resided in being quite far from the laboratory stationed just outside of Mt. Ebott. They were now quite north of the hulking mass, the steady landmark just peeking above the fuzzy conifers and shivering aspen. It was difficult to see against the amounting darkness but it wasn’t hard to feel the presence of the mountain looming as a former cage. One can’t forget a feeling like the barrier, even if it was shattered. everything held a residual energy, and with the barrier being up for as long as it had, it wouldn’t dissipate for even near centuries.

Gaster couldn’t decide how he would feel about that now. He was far too exhausted and was almost in the thrall of near sleeping when he noticed it was suddenly quiet. The car had stopped.

All at once Gaster jolted awake, _expecting to see-_

“Hey, it is okay, Gaster-”

_-with teeth, and the stench of liquid dust, all of its eyes-_

“Gaster-”

_-and gnarly, tangled tendrils, somehow darker and painfully defined-_

“Toriel, he will not talk to me-”

_- **I found you,** it sneered, in a panic-inducing, childlike glee, taking hold of all the empty spaces of his bones, stretching out and testing their durability- _

“Child, Gaster...”

_He started to hyperventilate, impossibly. There was no air here, no escape, and as he gasped the thing just stole that space he gulped for-_

“what the hell, he was just fine earlier-

“Sans shut up, not the time! Gaster!” Chara grasped his fragile cranium and stared into his empty sockets as the skeleton tried gulping for air. Purple ringed his pupils in a fiery halo. He wheezed, the breaths getting more shallow. Chara started to panic herself as tears edged her vision. “It is fine. You are okay, we are home, you are safe!”

 _No no no no no_ never _no_ safe _**no** \- _

“Chara, please, let me...” The queen cradled Gaster in her arms and rushed to the front door of her house, remotely unlocking it with a key fob. She lifted to the living room, the lamps switching on and the fireplace already crackling. Chara and Sans followed in after locking the Trooper, and Chara flighted to the queen’s side, grasping Gaster’s hand as he struggled in Toriel’s arms. Sans remained at the now shut door, regarding the terrified skeleton with a hard, dark look.

Toriel started to hum a soft, old lullaby, lulling against the cracks of popping firewood. Chara, with tears of recognition, waveredly hummed along with her. 

By the second verse Gaster began to finally still himself, hitching a few breaths before the lights of his eyes faded back to its normal state. Catharsis settled in as he unclenched a hollow palm, no longer grasping the queen’s fine, lavender cardigan. 

“ _And in time, the flower shall bloom once more..._ ” Toriel hummed the final lyric, Resting her sloped forehead against Gaster as he stilled into sleep. Chara’s head rested on the queen’s lap, fighting to keep her own emotions in check.

“Chara, would you mind going to the hamper and grab a comforter? I didn’t have time to prepare a bed for him, so he will have to sleep on the couch for tonight...”

She nodded and reluctantly headed to the kitchen, where beyond it was the laundry room. Sans was rigid in the doorway in front of the stairs, still brooding and not sure what to do with himself.

“Sans?” Toriel didn’t quite understand his problem with Gaster yet. Weren’t they brothers, shouldn’t he be happy? When Sans was in the laboratory’s waiting room, though, he had been quiet, a reserved wrath taking up his soul. He wasn’t crying in relief and unbridled joy like Chara was, or giving encouragement like Frisk had been.

It almost scared her.

“shit, tori, not... not right now,” he replied, knowing her tone. Knowing how easy it was for his gates to break to release that dam of anger and frustrations. “i’m sorry just- not right now,” he unplanted himself and went up the stairs, not making a sound besides the soft thud of a door closing. 

Toriel looked on, making a mental note to untangle that ball of mystery later. Chara came in with a fluffy white comforter and another thinner blanket to cover the sofa with. 

“Will this work?”

“Ah yes, just over there, then,” and when Chara had finished dressing the couch Toriel placed the sleeping skeleton onto it, and tucked the blanket in around him. Both stood at his side, watching him breathe in and out with a peace he hadn’t had in awhile.

“Now will you tell me what happened, my child?” Toriel softly requested.

Chara felt a knot in her stomach, queasing it’s way about her abdomen. 

“It is... a very long story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aww shit, here we go again... making stories i prolly wont ever finish...
> 
> come visit [my tunglr!](https://opprotunemoment.tumblr.com/)


	2. I've got a Confession to make

“Was it like what happened to you? Did he try to save someone as well?”

Toriel still had trouble wrapping her head around the sudden appearance of Chara. How awful she had felt to have seemingly forgotten her adopted child from so long ago. As soon as she saw Chara, the misplaced memories of a different timeline rushed into her, where both of her children died and she resigned from her throne after her former husband, the King of all Monsters, finally put a definition to the moniker of Monster by waging war against the souls of children.

It never happened. But at the same time it did, and whatever Chara had done the moment Asriel died, it rewrote the universe. Where she died and Asriel continued to live, being stalked by Chara’s void-ghost, in her words.

And the potential of that forbidden magic did most definitely scare Toriel.

Chara shook her head. “This was different. Just a little different. But we were in the same place. His story is his to tell, so I will not tell you everything out of respect to him. But... the Machine he came out of, he went into once, and never came back out. He was stuck in the Void like I was.”

Chara scuffed at the floor, her sock not producing the desired sound. “When I was “attached” to Frisk as a void-ghost, I would almost forget about him, until every so often I would be pulled back in to meet him and remember all over again.”

“How would you see him when... when you were given a body again?”

“Through dreams.” Chara sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, head in hands and staring at the linework of the sofa. “Though up until a few weeks ago, I stopped dreaming of him, and the process of forgetting started all over. I started to panic about it because I knew I was forgetting something important, breaking a promise that I could not remember.”

“I thought you were acting strange because of Sans.” Toriel mused. The weeks leading up to this morning, Chara had been growing distant and clippy. She understood it as lashing out against Toriel and Sans’ being together in the same house. Before that, Sans and her had been seeing each other for at least a year. And even beyond that she had been separated from Asgore for at least ten years, well before the barrier broke. It was new and it was strange, but she hoped that Chara might have warmed up to Sans after awhile.

Although she was relieved that it wasn’t entirely the fault of Sans being introduced, it was clear Chara resented the bond.

Chara started on a frown and shrugged. “I’m not entirely a big fan of him. But he was not entirely the reason I was acting like that. I had to suck it up because I needed his help getting Gaster back anyway.”

“It couldn’t have helped though.” Toriel sighed painfully. She wished that Chara wouldn't be so upset between herself and Sans trying to have a relationship. She just wanted Chara to be happy, and a bit selfishly she wanted to be happy as well. But...

“It does not matter. He will not ever be my dad but you should not let that stop you because some bratty kid does not like him.”

Toriel laid a hand on Chara’s shoulder, giving her a delicate, mothering look. Chara didn’t turn to look at her though.

“Chara, as my child your happiness matters the world to me. If that means I can’t be with Sans because you’re tormenting so-”

“No!” Chara whipped around, anguish on her face. “Stop that! Stop being so nice. No.” Chara hugged Toriel tightly, surprising her. Slightly muffled from her cardigan, Chara mumbled, “You do not have to do that. I just miss you and Asgore, I want to be a kid again. Be selfish for yourself. You deserve it.”

Being in the void, Chara didn’t just see her original timeline. She could see all of them if she wanted to, all of them spreading out in thin, springy branches. There were too many that gave Toriel hell, and worse. Some of them were nice. Some of them were down to earth awful. Some of them Toriel was still underground, lamenting over her many lost children, some of them she was still with Asgore in her cloyingly sweet way.

She just wanted her to be happy. And if that meant some bonehead had to live under the same roof as her, then she could try to live with that.

Toriel hugged Chara back, rubbing her head. “I think it would do well for you to talk to Sans, maybe work this out with him where I can’t.”

Chara slowly nodded, refusing to let go. Toriel shifted to a more comfortable position, waiting for Chara to sleep so she can carry her to her room upstairs.

“aren’t ya coming up?”

Toriel jumped to see Sans standing in the doorway leading to the breezeway and stairs. She smiled.

“Were you just sulking up there waiting for me?”

Sans scuffed a slipper. “no.”

Toriel gave him a dubious, half-lidded smirk.

He lamented, “fine yeah, i was. i was sulking like a kid who can’t have sugar before bedtime.”

Toriel cocked her head. “Sugar, hmm?” She smiled sweetly.

Sans shot a deadpan expression at her, deliberately ignoring the innuendo. Oh, so he didn’t mean that.

Toriel sighed and scooped up Chara, leaving Gaster to sleep alone.

“Can we talk then? After I tuck in Chara?”

“about what?”

Toriel squinted at Sans, flicking her tail to the sofa where Gaster slept. Sans blew through his teeth, clicking them in frustration.

“oh. that.” He followed her up, hands stuffed into his pajama bottoms.

“Yes, _him_ ,” She chided, correcting him. “Maybe not tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow. I won’t rush an explanation from you because it’s not entirely my business -” She tried to work out how she was going to open the door as she reached it, but Sans had already opened it before she could situate Chara in her arms. “Thank you - But if you’re upset over him staying here until we can find him a home, I need to know what I can do to make this house have less friction between its occupants.” Toriel tucked in Chara and gently shut the door, then turned to Sans in the hallway.

He sighed. He wanted to be angry. but not with her. He was angry with Gaster. It wasn’t fair to be frustrated with her as well. She didn’t understand, and he guessed he owed her an explanation. He hugged her waist, tucking his head against her clavicle.

“ok.”

“Okay what?”

“ok, i’ll give you the story, let’s just go to bed already. it’s been a long day.”

"So it has been," She agreed. Toriel brushed her muzzle against his scalp affectionately, returning the hug. “I’d like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to the soriel shippers out there! 
> 
> ...
> 
> yeah thats all i gotta say for now. bye!
> 
> jk come yell at me on [my tumblr](https://opprotunemoment.tumblr.com/)


	3. Oh I have a lot to say

Sans made a beeline for the bed while Toriel went left for the bathroom, scrutinizing herself in the wide sink mirror. She glared at a stubborn twig (how did that even get there?) as she tried to pry it out with a hiss. Then, she took a brush to her ear, which was already threaded with fine white fur, but not too much to be impractical.

“do you have to do that now?” Sans questioned the ceiling.

“A woman doesn’t look this good by neglecting her finer features,” she teased, switching to her other ear. 

“what if i did it for you? would it dye faster?”

She paused. “What?”

“because, heh you know. it’s a brush?”

Toriel looked out of the bathroom, setting down the brush. Sans was still talking to the ceiling, arms spread out against the mattress and legs dangling to the floor. She walked to the opposite side of the bed, switching on the lamp he failed to turn on. The stiff mattress barely gave as she climbed on as she sat against her thigh, her legs out beside her.

“uh. that was one of my weaker ones. must have been a paint to listen to.”

Toriel just gave him a sad smile, cupping his head. He leaned into the warmth, looking at her upside down.

“Well, if we’re talking pigments, you know how Frisk has been dabbling in different hair colors? I especially love the teal they’re going for this month. I have been considering going for a more bold color myself, say, black or red, but, it’d be pretty un _ remark _ able, considering how permanent it would be.”

Sans was at a loss for words for a moment, trying to figure out what she was saying. She gave him a smug smile when he started to chuckle.

“beat the devil out of my own game.”

_ Ah, Bob Ross!  _ Toriel laughed, willing for this banter to continue. “Well, as far as puns go, I’m pretty intermediate, still trying to test my palettes. Now when it comes to cooking, why, we’re absolutely complementary.” She couldn’t keep the smile out of her voice, “I may be okay at puns, but that’s more of your niche, while mine is perfecting pastries. But together, it can all muddy out into a fantastic little pun-nini.”

“you used... so many words for that, holy shit,” he covered his face, struggling to contain his laughter. “did you rehearse that or something?”

“Practice makes perfect, darling,” she replied, immensely satisfied with herself. 

He finally stopped chuckling, trying to dab at the tears in his sockets. Toriel brushed them away, looking lovingly at him as he stared back.

“Though admittedly, no, I just happen to look at a lot of one-liners one-line while you are off at work. Did you know that there is a pun generator website, just by pudding in a single word or phrase? Frisk sent it to me just about a week ago, and it’s proven to be very useful.”

“so  _ that’s _ why you've been a bit more wittier lately,” he practically laughed in reply.

“Aw, don’t let it whittle you away, we can look at it later if you’re needing a refresher.”

Sans took his hand and scraped it gently through her outside ear fur, rubbing the sensitive parts.

“what’d i do to deserve you?”

She smiled, letting a pleased hum rumble her chest. “I don’t know, Sans. I don’t know.”

_ This is nice,  _ she thought to herself. She hadn’t felt so warm and secure for so long. It was good to feel comfortable with someone she genuinely loved -

**_But you felt that way once, didn’t you?_ **

_ What? _

**_How could you just leave him? How could you just up and leave him behind? Leave_ ** **me** **_behind? Was it my fault? Did I do something wrong?_ **

_ No dear of course not - _

Sans sighed, jolting her out of... whatever that was. She gave him a troubled look,  _ Did he notice? _

**_You mean, did he notice how guilty you feel?_ **

He was grimacing now, turned away from her hand and his palm against the mattress again. She kept silent. If anything, all that prattle was delaying the inevitable. Sans’ procrastination of this - was it really a confession? Did she make it that way? - this, thing that he had to - no, want to - tell her -

Maybe she didn’t have to know if it was hurting him so much.

**_But you want people to hurt._ **

_ No. I don’t.  _

**_You do it all the time though._ **

_ I won’t listen to this. _

“Sans, dear, if you want to wait to tell me... we can sleep on it, I did say it could wait until tomorrow, or even a week from now. Whenever you’re most comfortable.”

Only his pupils looked to face her. “you don’t mind?”

“If I did, would I be asking your permission?”

“no, heh.”

“What?” Now it was her missing the joke, just barely.

“ _ perm _ -mission. hair perm. brush.”

Toriel only blinked, feigning ignorance.

“aw, when am i gonna make you laugh?” He faced her fully now, still upside down.

“You’ve done plenty to make me jovial, Sans.”

Sans only let out the smallest of chuckles, eyes darting behind her. “whew, would you look at the thyme.” She looked at the alarm clock, it read 11:18 in bright red, slanted font.

She squinted. “That would only make sense on paper, Sans.”

“not with papyrus around. he could smell the difference between a clock and an herb hand-lengths away, within seconds, one could say.”

Toriel barked out a single bout of laughter before clasping her hand against her mouth. Sans laughed with her as she went with soft giggles instead.

"guess wishes really do come true."

“Looks like I walked into that one.”

“yeah, yeah you did,” he chuckled just a little more before sitting up and turning away, covering his eyes almost childishly.

“What on Earth are you doing?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.

“you need to get dressed for bed.”

“Ah, I suppose,” she supplied, slipping off her day clothes and heading for the closet for a long, blue nightgown. She wasn’t uncomfortable with her body around Sans, so she didn’t see a reason for him to be so chaste about it. On their first night together she had half the mind to be almost offended, but after he explained things she immediately respected his wishes.

“ _ i just want to wait. i want it to be a surprise, for the first time _ .  _ i don’t want to mess anything up, and if we do, no regrets for either of us. _ ”

That moment he confided just that, is when she realized he wanted to be serious with her. It made her feel so young again. So coveted and wanted. She latched onto that. She could wait for him.

She puffed her lopped ears out of the neck of her robe, and settled into bed.

“I’m good,” she called, and Sans turned around, climbing in with her, hugging her tightly as she stretched to snap the lamp off. She embraced him the same, listening to his breaths deepen as he eventually fell asleep, and she followed not too soon after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS NOT JUST SORIEL I Promise okay? okay. there will be more gaster because thats what this fic is about i Promise. just. just let me have this theres so little soriel representation and the little hints toby gives me just aint enough yall. feed me fother, i require my ship to sail into the sunset. blease. i love you for reading my rambling stupidity.
> 
> also please get my title references, some of them will be obvious because im a harebrain but others, you might have to think awhile if i thought i was clever enough about it
> 
> also groan at my puns, i tried very hard not to look on the web for help but a spider bit me anyway.  
> [infest my inbox whydonchya](https://opprotunemoment.tumblr.com/)


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